BARCELONA with Tim and Amy

Tim and Amy arrived in Schopfheim on 17 December. We flew to Barcelona together with Easy Jet the following day. We managed to find a great apartment (well, a friend of ours actually found it for us) in a very convenient location and with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It was great and we were really able to relax there in between our sightseeing. Here are some pictures to wet your appetite for Barcelona!

A veiw from Columbus Tower

Roger and Gaynor in Parc Guell

Tim and Amy in Parc Guell

Gaudi architecture in Parc Guell

Amazing mosaic architecture

Boo! More mosaic work

Who's the gorgeous creature?!!!!

Trick photography !!!! Love the mosaic on the ceiling

Tim and Amy on the incredible continuous mosaic seating around the parc

One of the many walks in the parc

Amy on the top of La Pedrera. More amazing Mosaics. Go Gaudi !

On top of La Pedrera with Sagrada Familia in the background

The La Pedrera building built over 100 years ago


Taken on our last day in Barcelona as we are about to enter the Metro to take the train to the airport.

Goodbye Barcelona, what a wonderful 5 days we have all had. The half has not been told!!

Christmas with Tim and Amy

Yeh, a real Christmas tree with real Christmas candles

Ames enjoying the lighted Christmas tree

Go those Santa's !

Our Christmas fare

Y U M ! ! ! !

Needless to say, we had a lovely Christmas Day with our gorgeous Tim and Amy. It was a leisurely day with a brunch at 11am followed by a little walk and then a game of Zug um Zug! We did manage a couple of phone calls to family in Australia at one stage!

We ended up having our actual Christmas Dinner at 5.30pm and it was quite a feast.

Although we can't actually say we had a 'White Christmas' we were able to see it all around the place in Schopfheim. It has all but gone now, on 27 December and Tim and Amy have moved on to Colmar, France to spend time with Amy's family. We are going to miss them terribly. We have had the most wonderful time together and will treasure every little minute we have been able to spend with this most delightful couple who just happen to be part of our family!

TIM AND AMY HAVE ARRIVED

Yes, they're really here. Tim and Amy were so excited about the snow! It has been falling all day. So, we just had to build a snowman. Sorry I didn't get a piccie of the finished product (too busy putting the chicken in the oven to roast)!! But Amy has pictures which we will download soon. Here's a few of the men working!

T O M O R R O W ! ! !

So, ONE more sleep. I'm not excited at all!!

Boy have I been busy! Shopping, cooking, cleaning, emailing, wrapping pressies (not too many this year), writing Chrissie cards, washing. You name it, I've been doing it. Now I am ready for bed!

Roger is feeling much better, so hopefully after a good nights sleep tonight he will be well on his way to recovery.

Have spoken to a few of my favourite people on the phone in the last couple of days. Had a lovely chat to Tom and Glenda and then Jocelyn before she took herself off to bed. Then this morning I couldn't sleep in ( ! ! ! ), so I rang lovely Cheryl in Adelaide just before she left work and then a friend from long ago Rosemary. A great way to start my day.

No more snow, though they are predicting more overnight, just in time for the arrival of Tim and Amy. I just hope it doesn't delay them.

I love life!

THEY'RE COMING ! ! !

TWO MORE SLEEPS UNTIL TIM AND AMY ARRIVE ! ! !

No, we're not at all excited!

Tim rang us to say they had arrived safely in Heidelberg. No snow there.

Roger took himself off to the Doctor this morning as his cough has come. He has been given a 5 day Dr's certificate for his employer (me ! joking!!) and has been put on a course of antibiotics. Hopefully he'll be feeling better tomorrow. I am fighting to stay fit, taking Vitamin C and anything else I can get my hands on at this stage!

Johnny came and had dinner with us tonight. Johnny is our lovely Ghanan friend who drives us to Church every week. We had a great time together. He loves my Lemon Coconut Slice.

So, we have cancelled all our activities until Tim and Amy arrive. No more of the high life! Oh well, such a pity really, but have to be well for Barcelona!

Did the shopping today. We are expecting more snow and it can be difficult to trudge outside in the snow, so decided to do it all today. It was freezing. I'm sure the temp. didn't get above -2C.

Our home is looking lovely and Christmasy!

Cooking tomorrow. I am making Anzac Biscuits for a friend in Basel. Her parents are coming over from London for Christmas. She loves my Anzacs.

Anna's Surprise 50th Birthday

Roger and I were 2 of 16 people that gathered in Basel last night to celebrate our lovely friend Anna's surprise 50th Birthday. Below are some photo's taken throughout the evening. I think you'll be able to gather who Anna is. We all had a fabulous evening. Rog and I were the first to leave at 11.25pm. Those trains, they don't wait for anyone!!

HERE WE ARE

Kevin sent us this photo the other day and I haven't been able to find it on the computer up till now. So, here we are at the beginning of our 2 hours walk on Monday 1 December.

350 POSTS ! ! !

ONLY 5 MORE SLEEPS UNTIL TIM AND AMY ARRIVE ! ! ! Y E H

Today I helped a friend in need. She has damaged her knee skiing and can't do much of anything, poor darling. She has family coming for Christmas and is feeling very cross with herself as well as very frustrated.

I did enjoy using all the various gadgets one needs to clean a house (but not me!!!). I was having a good laugh to myself about all these things and learning how to use them was fun as well!!

Listening to Celine Dion's Christmas album was a treat as well. Anyone want to buy it for me???!!!! We are sadly lacking in good music for Christmas. All of the CD's we thought we had must have belonged to the kids! Will have to stock up when we go to Australia next time!

Now I am so tired. We are suppose to be helping our Youth Pastor's parents move house tomorrow. Would I be naughty in pulling out? I just don't have the energy to do another full day's hard labour!! Maybe Roger can work for the 2 of us!

More photo's coming so stay tuned. I'm trying very hard to blog a little more regularly, at least for the time being anyway.

MY THURSDAY

I love spending time in my little home. Today I caught up on some emailing, went shopping which was a bit exciting as I had to walk in the snow (!) and then I came home and did a whole load of baking and also made some yummy soup.

Here are some photo's of took of the snow today. There is just so much around. Sorry to my US blogging friends. This just wouldn't excite you like it does my Aussie friends, and especially my lovely family.

Photo taken from the large sunroom window looking at our back garden, the canal (where the brickwork is) and the neighbours back garden. What a picture.

Another picture out our front door. I just love it! Below is a photo taken out our loungeroom window.

It's only 6 more big sleeps until Tim and Amy arrive. Anyone would think I was counting!!!

Freiburg Christmas Market

Twenty four English speaking friends gathered at Basel Badischer Bahnhof at 13.30 (under the big light in the main hall!!) to travel to Freiburg together to visit the Christmas Markets.

When Roger and I left Schopfheim it was snowing rather heavily and it all looked quite a picture. We just love the snow and can't get enough of it. But when we got into Basel it was more rain than snow and not nearly as pretty!

Roger showing off his jumper

Linda is most impressed with Roger's Mum's knitting!!

Couldn't bear the cold any longer so found a lovely cafe to thaw out in! In the photo l-r Rani, Gaynor, Kevin, Dianne (visiting from Newcastle, NSW!) and my lovely Swiss friend Christine

Shame you can't turn on the sound to hear this guy. Roger took the photo, so then I made him give the guy some money!! Very cute.


Sorry this really doesn't do justice to the markets, but the lights are great!

We all had a great time, but it was bitterly cold and rained most of the time we were there unfortunately. But it was fun to go together as a group, though we couldn't stay together because of the weather. Will try somewhere new next year!

Tuesday 9 December

What a lovely day I've had today! I raced around like a mad thing this morning, icing cakes, doing dishes, cleaning bathroom, etc and then RACED to the train station to meet Jan who was coming for a visit. Jan is in Germany for 3 months and is a missionary in Madrid, Spain. We connected via a mutual friend. Well, the time past all too quickly and I didn't want her to leave so soon, so I invited her to stay for a yummy mug of my Cock-a-leekie soup, which was well received. What a precious lady Jan is and how blessed I am that you had time to spend a couple of hours with me.

Then Roger arrived home so it was chat, chat, chat to him before I had to leave 20 minutes later to catch the train to Riehen where I was catching up with another friend. I even managed to find my way there without her meeting me at the station, so I was pretty proud of myself. We had a lovely couple of hours together.

Now I am home alone. I should actually be in Basel attending Roger's Christmas Choir Concert "English Seminar Choir" but I went on Sunday and I really don't want a late night. Plus it's absolutely freezing outside and any time soon it is going to start to snow.

So, a quiet night for me tonight, but I would love to finish off the Christmas mail and then I can breath a sigh of relief (I shouldn't say that really - I love writing letters). Also I love keeping in touch with my beautiful friends in this way.

See, I'm trying to be good and keep you up to date with what I have been up to!

MONDAY'S HIKE

Roger and I woke up bright and early this morning ready to charge out the door for Monday's hike. Jack Frost was all over the place!! It was bitterly cold!! Quite a picture though.

We arrived at our designated destination about 20 minutes before everyone else. No fun waiting in the cold! When our fabulous leader Kevin hadn't arrived by 9.30am I suggested we hide from him so when he got off the tram he would get a little surprise!! There were 7 of us waiting for Kevin.

So............ Kevin got off the train! "Well, it looks like I'm doing the walk on my own....."

"Surprise......!!!!"

"And who's idea was it to hide", Kevin asks Roger!

"Who do you think", says Roger!

We had a wonderful 3 hour walk, walking up through Riehen and the vineyards and then along the ridge. The sun came out, and although still rather chilly, it was a beautiful walk and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Even more so as we were able to stop at a Cafe after 2.5 hours and have a nice warm drink.

We were home by 2.15pm

Our Busy Life!

Jocelyn reminded me on the phone on Saturday that it is a while since I have blogged so I thought I'd better get cracking and do something about that. I have so much to tell you, but little time to do it. Would love to post a photo of the 2 of us from last Monday's walk, but don't know where it has disappeared to!! When I work it out, I'll post it (that can be Roger's job!!).



So, we've been up to all sorts of things. I'm trying to get all our Christmas mail done and posted to various places in the globe this week. Roger has been a great help as well. So, that's taken up a bit of time.



We've had lots of dinner parties on and these are always loads of fun. In fact, we are both feeling a little weary tonight after a hectic week and then out late on Friday and Saturday nights. Roger had the first of his 2 Choir Concerts at 5pm today which went really well.



We had a lovely friend Dudley visit us from Adelaide, Australia for 24 hours last Thurs. week ago and we didn't stop talking. It was great. No photo though. Must get the camera out!



One of the 'downs' of winter is that most people hibernate. We haven't seen our neighbours properly for about 3 weeks now and I do miss our little chats, smiles, waves and Guten Tag's! It has been bitterly cold here and I'm not sure I'm fully prepared for the long, long winter.



Rog had a full medical check up on Thursday morning which went really well and he is so much happier (relieved) that all is well. He does go back on Tuesday to get the results of blood tests, so hopefully this will all be good news.



I had a trip to Solothurn, about 80 km's on the train from Basel going further into Switzerland on Tuesday. When I was on the train I was thinking to myself "Am I really on the train in Switzerland". Sometimes it still seems like a dream. But then I get off the train, walk to the Weibel's home and I know I am in Switzerland. My little Jakob is growing so quickly and I don't like the thought of not seeing him for at least a month for he might forget me or be shy. When I go to Solothurn I just take over - feed him, put him to sleep, even took him on a 2 hour walk in the freezing cold. He's 9 months old and oh so cute.



So this week we begin with our usual hike tomorrow morning. Tuesday Roger is busy all day and I will be catching up with a friend in the morning and also in the afternoon. Wednesday we are going with a group to the Freiburg Christmas Markets which should be loads of fun. I know this time to rug up well and truly as it is always freezing cold and we will be outside for several hours.



Thursday I hope to spend the day cooking various delicacies to give to friends for Christmas. Also, I have some orders for various cakes and biscuits, so that is good.



Oh, a lovely Aussie friend gave me some S.R. Flour today at the Concert. She had been into France and thought of me. Isn't that just delightful? People are always so very kind to me.



Okay, so that's enough, otherwise you will give us reading. Who knows when I will get a chance again, but you never know, so stay tuned!